Semi-automatically-controlled sewing-machine.



. G. E. OATHYOUT. SEMI-AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLED SEWING MACHINE.

7 APPLICATION FILED SEPT.5,1913. 1,121,863.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES INVENTOR Patented Dec. 15 14;

G. E. OATHOUT. SEMI-AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLED SEWING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1913.

Patented Dec. 22, 1914,

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shorten n, oa'rn'on'r, on wernnvmn'r, NEW YORK, assrolvon. T0 nnwrn L. MEYERS Ann DAVID E. MEYER, corenrnnns nomo Busmnss AS LOUIS MEYEns & sou,

OF- NEW YORK, N. Y.

.SEMI-AUTOMATIGALLY-CONTR-OLLED SEWING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22,1914.

Application filed September 5,.1913. Serial No. 783,216.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. OATHOUT,

useful Improvements in Semi-Automatically-Controlled Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to sewing machines for making gloves and particularly to such machines when used for placing rows "of ornamental stitching upon the backs of gloves as is usual in their manufacture.

In a pending application filed by me May 25, 1912, Serial Number 699,618 I have disclosed a mechanism which may be said to be completely automatic. The mechanism referred to is of such character that, once the machine. is started in operation with the glove backin place, there is formed a row of ornamental stitching of definite length, preceded and followed by a definite number I of dead stitches which act to lock the ends ofthe rows of stitching so that they will not unravel.

The mechanism of my prior application just referred to is, as has been said, ofa completely automatic character and, while of great advantage in the manufacture of a large number of 'gloves'of the same size and type, is not so well adapted to the manufacture 'of successive small-lots of gloves of difiiereht sizes and type where it is desirable that the length of the row of stitches should be different for the different kinds of gloves.

It is the object of my present invention to provide a mechanism which shall do exactly what my mechanism of the prior application, above referred to, will do, namely, to place a row of ornamental stitches on the back of a glove, said row. being preceded and followed b a definite number of locking stitches. In the present invention, how-' ever, I so arrange the mechanism that the length of the row is not definitely determined by the character of the mechanism, but may be made anything that is desired. l call the mechanism semiautomatic as contrusted with the mechanism of the prior application, becausethe operation of making a complete row of stitches with the preceding and following locking stitches, while a single and continuous operation, once the machine is started, regardless of the length of the row, requires that the operator throw a movable member in order to terminate the row of live stitches and tocause the mech-.

anism to produce the determined number of dead terminal stitches and then stop.

The exact character of my invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which a preferred embodiment thereof is represented as ap plied to a sewing machine of the l Vheeler &

lVillcoX type.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a .7 front elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 represents a sectional plan along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 represents a sectional elevation along the irregular line 8-3 of Fig. 2; Figs. 1, 5, 6 and 7 represent respectively sectional elevations along the lines i t,

5'-5, 6+6 and 7-7 of Fig. 2; Figs. 8 and 9 represent, respectively, partial sectional lon gitudinal elevations along the center line and along the line 99 of Fig. 2; Fig. 10

, represents an elevation taken from the right of F '1, part of the structure being shown dotted: Fig. 11 represents an axial section through the driving pulley and driving axis of the machine; and Fig. 1.2 represents a perspective of the yoke by means of which the feed is actuated.

Before describing my invention in detail, I will say that what I have done in applying the same to the particular sewing machine here selected may be briefly stated as follows: I have arranged the driving pulley so as to have frictional engagement with the driving shaft sutlicient to rotate the same and operate the machine but have provided :1. lock which ordinarily engages said shaft so as to prevent its rotation,thus permitting the driving pulley to rotate independently.

I provide the operating shaft below the .base of the machine, which is connected.

with the driving shaft in the usual way,

revolves in the production of the aforesaid dead stitches, an independent Wheel or disk is actuated thereby so as, after a definite number of dead stitches have been made, to throw the slidable clutch members to their other limiting position, where they engage a cam which throws the feed above the bed plate, and thus into action, so that live stitches are produced. The'machine will go on producing these 'live stitches until the ,slidable' clutch member is again thrown to throws the lock which stops-the driving shaft.

Referring now to the drawings, the driving shaft 1 has the driving pulley 2 mounted thereon and in frictional engagement therewith; in the embodiment shown a felt washer 3 is placed between the driving pulley and a collar 4 fixed upon the shaft.

When the shaft is locked the pulley may be readily rotated independently thereof, but when the shaft is free, the friction produced by the felt washer is suflicient to prevent relative rotation of shaft and pulley so that the related mechanism is permitted to operate. The operating shaft 5 below the bed plate of the machine isconnected with the driving shaft and actuates the stitching mechanism in the usual way. Upon the operating shaft is keyed or otherwise firmly fixed, a male clutch member 6, comprising a ring having a projecting lug 7 On each side of the male clutch member is a female clutch member comprising a short squaresectioned sleeve 8 loosely fitted to the shaft and having mounted slidably thereon, a ring 9 providednvith a lug l0 projecting inwardly from the facethereof.

Upon the outer end of the left hand sleeve is fixed a disk 11 provided with a radially projecting pin 12 and having upon the outer face of the ring, a cam 13 embraced by a fork 15 which, when said cam rotates, oscil lates a shaft 16 so as to alternately th ow the feed 16 above and below the bed plate in the usual. manner. At the outer end of the right hand'slecve 8 is fixed a disk 17 having a radially projecting pin 18 .and

upon its face an interrupted ring 19 and pin 20. I

An intermittent motion disk 21, having equally spaced radial slots 21- separating peripheral concave segments or teeth 21 is pivotally mounted upon the frame of the machine so that, as the ring 19 revolves,.the pin 20 will engage one of the slots 21 once for each revolution of the ring and move the disk 21 through an angle represented by one tooth, the concave portion of each tooth engaging the peripheralisurface of ring 19 so as to hold it immovable, until the pin 20 again comes around. This partic ular part of the mechanism will be recog nized as the well known Geneva stop.

A pin 22 projecting from the outer face of thedisk 21 will, when this disk comes around into a suitable position, engage a member 23.fixed upon a shaft 24 carrying a hooked lever arm 25so as to throw said arm inwardly toward the driving shaft in :vided with pins which engage respectively the annular rings 33 of the female clutch members. The two shifting members must, therefore, move as one. I

Upon the outside of each shifting member and linked thereto so as to move therewith is a locking link 34: provided with a: notch.

upon its outer. face; according as the linked shifting members are in one. limiting position or the other will pin 12 or pin 18, as the case may be, be engaged by one of these notches and in this way the particular'clutch member sleeve to which the pin belongs be prevented from rotating.

V A pin 35 held slidably-in a bracket 36 pivoted to the frame of the machine is itself pivotallyv attached to the end of lever arm 30; a spring 37 exerts .a constant pressure upon the pin in the d rection of. said lever arm .and thereby ten s to hold said arm' either in its upper or lower limiting position. Lever arm 30, through a .right angled extension thereof, connects with a bell crank lever provided with a knee pad 38; At the right of the machine in position to be engaged by the right knee of the operator is a second knee pad 39 fixed upon one arm of a bell crank lever 40, the other arm of which carries a fiat disk 41 upon which rests the usual lifting rod 42 through which the-presser foot may be raised. A disk 4-3 is fixed to lifting rod 42 in such a position that, as said rod is raised, the disk engages with a short lever arm 44 fixed upon'the shaft 24, which'carries lever arm 25..

The operation of my improved machine is as follows: The machine being at rest With stop 26 engaged by the hooked lever arm 25 (Fig. 10 and with the sliding clutch ele- I ments in their. left hand. limiting osition (Fig. 9), the knee pad39 is presse to the;

' right,'thus; raising the resser 42. so

being in their left hand position the pin 12 of disk 11 is engaged by its locking link 3 1 and the cam 13 formed upon said disk is held against rotation in such positior. as to.

maintain the feed 16 below the level of the bed plate. The righthand female clutch member is engaged with the male clutch member 6 so that the disk 17 with its interrupted ring 19 rotates with the operating shaft. At each revolution of this shaft, as

.has been explained before, a slot of disk 21 is engaged by the pin 20 so as to advance the disk through the angle represented by one tooth. As shown, there are 8 slots in all in disk 21 and after 4 of these slots have been engaged and the disk rotated correspondingly, the pin 27 which projects from the face of disk 21 will engage the member 28 so as to rotate shaft 29 and shift the slidable clutch member from its left hand to-its right hand limiting position, while at the same time raising the lever arm 30. This will cause the left hand sleeve, through its lug 10, to be engaged by lug 7 of the male clutch -member and, consequently, will cause rotation of cam 13, thereby alternately lifting the feed 42 above and below the level of the bed plate. A row of live stitches will now be formed in the usual manner and this row \villcontinue until the lever 30 is thrown down, either by pressing with the knee on the left hand knee pad 38 or, with the hand, on the button 31, so as to again throw the slidable clutch member to the left. This again locks disk 11 and the cam fixed thereto, with the feed below the level of the bed plate and compels the machine to make only dead stitches. At the same time the right hand disk 17 again begins to revolve the disk 21, step by step as before, until 4 slots 21 have been again engaged and consequentlv 4 dead stitches formed. Pin 22 will thereby have been brought around in position to engage member 23, whereby hooked lever arm 25 will be thrown inwardly to Ward the driving shaft into engagement with the stop 26. This stops the meghanism and power may then be thrown off' and the completed glove back withdrawn.

In order that the operating mechanism may not receive too severe a jar by reason of the sudden stoppage of operating shaft 1, I prefer to make the collar 4: as indicated in Figs. 1. and 11. Here the collar is divided centrallyand transversely to'its axis, the

flopies of this patent may be obtained for two faced portions being formed with interlocking ratchet teeth and united together by a coiled spring 4'. The lug 26 is attached to that half of the ring nearest the driving pulley which half ring is loose upon the driving shaft. The left half ring is keyed or otherwise tightly fixed upon said shaft. As a consequence when the lug 26 is'suddenly caught by the lever arm 25, the driving shaft with the left hand ring will continue to rotate through a small angle against the resiliency of the spring which is tightened within said angle'and until-the teeth of the opposing faces come in contact with one another, these teeth being formed sothat there is a small amount of play between the en surfaces of opposing teeth. V Numerous changes in details of construction and exact arrangement of parts may be made without-departing from the spirit of my invention, the particular form'illustrated and described being merely the one in which I have found it most convenient to embody the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim: I 1. In a sewing machine, means for mak ing a series of dead stitches, automatic means forchanging from dead to running stitches, means for manually changing from running to dead stitches without stopping the machine, and automatic means for. stopping the ning stitches, means for manually changingfrom running to dead stitches without stopping the machine, and automaticmeans for stopping the machine after a definite num ber of dead stitches have been made.

3. In a sewing machine, in combinationdefinite number of dead stitches, means for automatically changing from dead to running stitches, manually operated means for again changing to dead stitches, andautomatic means for locking the driving shaft after a definite number of dead stitches have been made. In testimony whereof, I have here uito set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. x v

- GEORGE E. OATHOUT.

i Witnesses: i

HOWARD H. BIGELMAN, I THOMAS STEELE.-

flve cents each, by addressing. the-Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. O. 

